The Top 30 Publishers for New Authors

Written by Emily Harstone

Updated January 31st, 2018

The writing market can be overwhelming, particularly for new authors who do not have a history of past publication. It is important to note that no legitimate established presses specifically look for unpublished authors. The presses on this list were chosen because they have published a number of debut books before.

Also, the publishers on this list do not require literary agents. You can submit to these publishers directly.

It is always helpful to create a history of previous publications of short fiction or poetry by submitting to literary journals. To learn more about submitting to literary journals, you can download our free eBook on the subject here.

All 30 of these manuscript publishers all have good distribution and clear marketing strategies. They are not vanity presses, self-publishers, or brand new presses. They are established publishing houses with good reputations.

Some of the publishers listed below are imprints of the “Big 5” publishers. None of the “Big 5” accept submissions directly, but some of their imprints do. Others are independent companies, some are based in the United States and others are based in the UK or elsewhere.

All the publishers listed below are open to authors regardless of nationality. Most of the publishers focus on publishing a particular genre or genres of books. The publishers are listed in no particular order.

Our full reviews of the publishers include more detailed submission information and links to the publishing company’s websites and submission guidelines. Not all of them are open submissions at this time, but many are. It is good to bookmark the websites of publishers you are interested in that are not currently open to submissions, and to check back regularly, if they do not overtly state when they will re-open to submissions.

1. Chronicle Books
Chronicle is a large independent San Francisco-based publisher that publishes highly acclaimed children’s books, bestselling cookbooks, gift books, and a variety of non-fiction. Most have a strong visual element. Their books are beautifully made. To learn more, read our full review here.

2. Tor/Forge
Tor/Forge publishes science fiction and fantasy books. Run by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, Tor/Forge is an imprint of Macmillan, one of the big five publishers. Tor is one of the most established science fiction publishers and they have won the Locus Award for best SF publisher 26 years in a row. To learn more, read our full review here.

3. Avon Impulse
Avon Romance is a romance imprint of HarperCollins. Avon Impulse is their digital-first imprint and they publish primarily new authors. If your book does well in terms of digital sales and is over 25,000 words in length, it will receive a print run and have good distribution. Books that receive a print run are officially published by Avon Romance for the print edition (and not Impulse). To learn more, read our full review here.

4. Hard Case Crime
Hard Case Crime is a well-respected and established niche publisher of hard- boiled crime novels. The publisher has been featured in a number of respected publications, including Time Magazine and The Stranger. To learn more, read our full review here.

5. DAW
DAW is an imprint of Penguin books. They publish science fiction and fantasy books, and have published authors such as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Roger Zelazny. DAW has published many bestselling books and has published Hugo Award winning books. Read the full review here.

6. Turner Books
Turner publishes books in a wide range of categories and formats—fiction and non-fiction. They publish mainly in print but have electronic options as well. They are a major independent publishing house and have a number of imprints. Read the full review here.

7. Persea Books
This is a respected publisher of fiction, non-fiction, poetry manuscripts, and literary young adult novels. The work they publish receives good distribution, particularly in academic circles. To learn more, read our full review here.

8. Source Books
A large independent publisher based out of Illinois, they also have offices in Connecticut and New York. They are open to unsolicited submissions for a wide range of genres, from non-fiction to romance. Read our full review here.

9. Baen
Baen is a publisher of science fiction and fantasy novels. They have published a large number of bestsellers, and many of the most respected science fiction and fantasy novelists regularly publish with them. To learn more, read our review of Baen.

10. Seven Stories Press
They focus on producing books that have a social conscience. They have published some big names and some bestsellers. They publish literary fiction and non-fiction. To learn more read our full review here.

11. Triangle SquareTriangle Square is an imprint of Seven Stories Press that focuses on publishing young adult novels and children’s books. They focus on publishing high quality writing that is educational, and recently published Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond’s first science book for children, The Third Chimpanzee for Young People.Our full review is here.

12. Coffee House Prsss
Coffee House Press (CHP) is a respected literary press with a great reputation. They are only open for short submission periods every year in March and September. These periods are capped at 300 submissions, so submit early. During the last open period they had reached 300 submissions on the third day. Coffee House Press publishes emerging and midcareer authors. They do not focus on bestsellers, but their books are often taught in academic settings and available in libraries and independent bookstores. Read our full review here.

13. Flashlight Press
Flashlight is an award winning publisher of illustrated children’s books. They publish books aimed at 4-8-year-olds. They only publish 2-4 books every year, so they are very selective. Their books are beautifully illustrated, and also receive good distribution internationally and nationally. Read the full review here.

14. Oneworld Publishing
An independent publisher founded in 1986, they now publish around 100 works of non-fiction and literary fiction every year. They work with distributors and authors worldwide, although they are only open to unsolicited submissions of non-fiction. Read the full review here.
15. Clarion
Clarion Books is an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books, a publisher you have almost certainly heard of, as they are established, and have published many classics. None of Houghton Mifflin’s other imprints are open to unsolicited submissions, just Clarion. Read our full review here.

16. Black & White Publishing
Black & White Publishing was founded in 1995 and is now one of the largest Scottish publishers. They currently have over 200 books in print. They have good distributor and are starting to break into the eBook publishing world. They publish general non-fiction, biography, sport, and humor, as well as selected fiction, Young Adult, and Children’s books. Read our full review here.

17. Angry Robot
Angry Robot is a respected science fiction and fantasy publisher that occasionally dips into related genres (such as urban fantasy, steampunk, and horror). Angry Robot was originally funded by HarperCollins. They are now part of Watkins Media Ltd. They offer advances and good royalty rates. Read our full review here.

18. The Quarto Publishing Group
The Quarto Publishing Group is an international publishing house known for its illustrated books. They publish most of their work through a number of niche imprints, each with their own focus. All of their US imprints are distributed by Hachette. Their imprints are all non-fiction. They publish a lot of cookbooks and gift books. They also have imprints covering almost any non-fiction topic you can think of, including children’s nonfiction, parenting, vehicles and architecture. To learn more, read our full review here.

19. Evernight
Evernight is an eBook publisher of romance and erotica novels. They also publish print versions of some books. A number of the books they have published have been on the Amazon Bestseller list. The books they publish are all romance and erotica but they are open to sub-genres within these genres. Read our full review here.
20. Absey & CompanyAbsey & Company has published many award-winning books in the last decade. They are an established small press that publishes full-length works of poetry and prose. To learn more, read the full review.
21. Felony & Mayhem
This is a respected publisher of literary mystery novels. They publish great books and have good distribution. To learn more, read our review here.

22. Chicago Review PressChicago Review Press was founded over 40 years ago. They are an established independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction and memoir. They also publish books for children (but not picture books). They were founded by Curt Matthews and his wife, Linda Matthews. Curt was the former editor of the literary journal the Chicago Review. To learn more, read the full review here.

23. Peachtree Publishers
Peachtree Publishers is a well respected independent publisher with good distribution. They are based out of Atlanta, Georgia, and specialize in publishing children’s books, young adult books, self-help titles for parents and educators and guides to the American south. They also publish books on gardening and cookbooks, but usually only with a southern focus. To learn more, read our full review here.

24. Gibbs SmithGibbs Smith is an established publisher with good distribution and a focus on cookbooks, interior design and architecture books, and board books for children. They have published a number of bestsellers, including a board book version of Pride & Prejudice. Gibbs Smith is primarily a non-fiction publisher which is just now entering the fiction market for adults and middle readers. To learn more, read our full review here.
25. Entangled Publishing
Entangled Publishing is an independent publisher of adult and young adult romantic fiction. Since its first release in July 2011, Entangled has published more than 970 titles. This number includes 14 titles that have made it onto the New York Times Bestsellers list and 42 titles that have placed on the USA Today Bestsellers list. Some of their more famous books are The Marriage Bargain, and Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout. You can read our full review here.

26. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Founded in 1911 and located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is an independent publisher of religious books. They have a large range, including academic books and reference works in theology, biblical studies, and religious history to popular titles in spirituality, social and cultural criticism, as well as literature. Not all of their books, particularly their children’s books, are overtly religious. To learn more, read our full review here.

27. Barron’s Educational Services
Most people who have studied for a test like the SAT or the GRE own a book published by Barron’s, if only because they bought one of their many test prep books. That is what Barron’s Educational Services is best known for and the reason it was founded in 1939. However, in recent years they have expanded and they also publish a wide variety of other genres, including fiction. To learn more, read our full review here.

28. Quirk Books
This Philadelphia-based press publishes just 25 books a year in a whole range of genres, from children’s books to non-fiction to science fiction. Unlike many publishers that tackle a large range of topics, Quirk Books has a clear marketing plan and to a certain degree their books have a cohesive feel, because they all are quirky. To learn more, read our full review here.

29. Albert Whitman & Company
Albert Whitman & Company has been around since 1919. Their best-known series is The Boxcar Children. Over the past few years they have started to focus on publishing a larger number of books each year. Their goal is to be publishing 150 new books a year by 2020. They publish middle-grade fiction, picture books, and young adult novels. They consider proposals and unsolicited manuscripts in all of these categories. They publish fiction and non-fiction picture books. To learn more, read our full review here.

30. Page Street Publishing
Page Street Publishing is a publisher of full color, mostly hardcover, gift books, cookbooks, and craft-books. Most of them have an important visual component. To get a good feel for what they have published in the past, you can go here. They are distributed through Macmillan in every country but Canada (where they have a different distributor). They publish around sixty titles a year. To learn more, read our full review here.

Bio: Emily Harstone is the pen name of an author whose work has been published internationally by a number of respected journals. She is a professional submissions adviser. You can follow her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/emilyharstone/

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